In Proverbs 22:7, God warns us of the dangers of debt: “Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender” (NLT). In 2008, many Christian families realized too late the truth in those words. With the recent economic crisis, our country saw the tragic effects of mounting debt as families lost homes and jobs. For many Americans, this was a call for drastic change, and families began to pare back spending and look for ways to reduce their debt. But are we teaching our youth to do the same? When we drop our teenagers off at college, are they prepared to handle the onslaught of credit card offers they’ll receive?

Understanding Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a hard task, and it is even harder to live with it. The first part of this article is technical but important information to understand this disorder, and the latter part incorporates the spiritual portion and may help provide some relief. The basic definition given by the National Institute of Mental Health states, “Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a common, chronic and long-lasting disorder in which a person has uncontrollable, reoccurring thoughts (obsessions) and behaviors (compulsions) that he or she feels the urge to repeat over and over.” But where do these come from? And what can be done?

Q.My wife just had our first child. Now, we now have about $3,000 in medical bills not covered by insurance. We’ve got $8,000 in our emergency fund, and I make between $25,000 and $30,000 a year. Should we try setting up a payment plan with the hospital, or is dipping into our savings a better idea?

There is a billboard between my house and my place of work that reads, “Don’t drive distracted.” I have to admit that the billboard reminds me of what happened a few years back. I was driving to meet a friend for lunch one sunny day when I suddenly remembered an important phone call I had forgotten to make. I immediately stretched to reach my back seat where I had left my cell phone. I took my eyes off the road for just a few seconds. Immediately I heard a loud bang; I had crashed into the car in front of me. My truck was bashed in, and the car I hit badly damaged. Thank God no one was hurt physically, but the damage to my wallet was ginormous.

For most honest Christians, becoming like Jesus Christ—or what Scripture calls sanctification—can be a supremely anticlimactic process. No matter how much better we become over time, no matter how much more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled we are this year compared to last year (Galatians 5:22-23), we never progress in our character to the degree that we once hoped that we would. Ironically, the more like Jesus we actually become, the more unlike Jesus we realize that we are.

Canadian Cecilia Wessels of Three Hills, Alberta was awakened from her nap on June 2, 2017, by her nine-year-old daughter warning her that something strange was in the sky. She went to the backyard to see a huge funnel cloud churning up dirt about a mile away. Picking up the camera, she snapped some photos of the tornado to send to her parents in South Africa. The photos showed something else. Her husband, Theunis, was in the backyard mowing the grass.

RRJ: Growing up in a Christian home, you’ve known about Jesus for a long time, but when did you come to truly know Jesus?

Laura: I think this is a lifelong goal. Knowing Jesus is both simple and complex at the same time. I started really trying to learn more about Jesus and my faith in my late 20s. Many things have changed my perspective about my relationship with Christ: becoming a parent and truly understanding unconditional love; reading and studying about the life of Christ; doing personal inventory about my beliefs versus what the truth of the Bible says...these and many other things have brought me to the understanding that I know all I need to know-- that the gospel is a very simple message, but also understanding there truly is so much more to learn.

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Living a Grace-Paced Life in a Burnout Culture

by David Murray

There’s no doubt that life is difficult. We are finite creatures who encounter an infinite number of opportunities. This forces us to make constant decisions between better and best, between the millions of things we could do and the few we actually should do.